Growing in Rome

Hi guys!! Okay so first things first.....TRANSFER CALLS! I will be.....in ROMA 2 with my best woman Sorella O'Connor!! Woooo! Surprised? ya we were too! We were 100% sure that Sorella OC'onnor would be leaving. But ya know, I am okay with it! Everyone told me I would be training and let's be honest...that sounds like a lot of work! haha and Sorella O'Connor and I get along so well. We have officially been telling people that we are twins. We get asked almost every day, so now we just smile and nod "si, infatti, siamo gemelle!"

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!  (Wiltbank & O'Connor - "twins")

Sorry my email last week was lame and the ones before that. I have just hit this little problem. Where I hate email time! I never thought I would say it, but I just hit this mental block when I come to do email. I feel like all of my letters are the same! And missionary life has just become....my life now! Home honestly seems like a dream from the past, so far away! So it's kinda a good thing and a bad thing. So I am sorry! But I will try to do better!

I am so excited about the Gilbert temple! I am definitely going to get married in that temple! And I can't wait until I can come and see it. The temple here in Rome is so.beautiful. I can't even begin to tell you how big of a miracle the temple is. Numerically. Italy should not be getting a temple. There just aren't enough members for that. But all of the apostales that have come to see the progress always talk about how special Italy is. How much this temple is going to change the church here for the Italians. I just know that once it is done, that the gospel is going to flood this amazing city of Rome. And I am a little bit sad that I will miss that, but I love still being a part of the foundation of this great work here in Rome. The other day we went to go and do finding by the temple (jealous??) and it was so fun to just stop people and say "hey do you know what that big building is?" "Ya I think it is one of those Mormon temples" "Oh hey you are right! In fact we are Mormon missionaries, do you want to learn more?" <<<<< so cool! Until someone says....well I think it is too big and looks like a boat. awkward.

Pday - O'Connor, Carol, Wiltbank

For Pday we went with Carol, it was so much fun! I just love Carol, I wish you guys could meet her. She is amazing. The fun thing about being in Rome for such a long time is that once we have seen all of the main tourist attractions, we get to go and explore this beautiful city and see all of the amazing things that other people don't have time to see. Carol took us to this piazza. She brought us to a door and told us to look through the key hole. okay? and we looked through and the keyhole perfectly framed the Basilica di San Pietro! So cool! I felt like we were in the secret garden.

Through the keyhole.

I also got to see Anziano Nickle and Di Caro! Ah it was so nice to talk about Palermo and see how it is doing. They were pretty sad to leave (reasonable, Palermo is the best city in Italy...no the world!) But today I am super excited for PDay because Sorella Bradford is here (she goes home this week :( ) But we are going to do Pday all together!!

About Anna Flori! In fact we went and saw her this week! I got a txt message from her that said "Hello sister kaeli would you like to come for a coffee tomorrow afternoon? let me know if you are both available ciao anna flori" When I started reading the txt I was a little bit afraid. Who knows my first name? why would they invite me to go get coffee? I don't even drink coffee! And then I read....anna flori. So we called her and let her know that we can't drink coffee but we would love to come by and drink some juice! So on Wednesday afternoon we went by. And she is so amazing!! Her son Marco was there visiting from England and so we were able to chat and get to know each other and then we taught them the Restoration lesson and they loved it! I could tell that Anna really felt the spirit, she had that look in her eyes. And Marco was so interested in the story, he kept asking "so what happened next?!" We gave them both a Book of Mormon and they committed to read it and meet with us again to talk about the Plan of Salvation. We also got Marco's address and phone number so that the missionaries in London can come and visit him and his family. (maybe Tyler Goldsmith?) She is out of town this week, but next week we will follow up and let you know what happened. THANK YOU SISTER GRAHAM! :)

We are also teaching our girl Shadi from Iran. She is so cute! She loves meeting with us and she understands more than we were giving her credit for. We taught her about free agency and how that is what the plan is all about. And that night in English course I asked all of the students to come up and teach the class something they learned that week and Shadi got up and said "you guys taught me something this week! Today I learned that if we couldn't choose, our life would be meaningless" and then just sat down. Love her!

Also...that same day we were doing some finding by the church and we talked to this lady and offered her English course. She said "ya I have been before, maybe I will start coming again. BUT NO RELIGION".... va bene sinora.... we won't push it..... And she followed through. She came to English course 2 hours later. Exept before it started she came up to me and said "I changed my mind. Religion is everything" And after class when we were about to do our spiritual thought someone started talking about weaknesses and she was a little bit stumped "ya I wish I could turn my weakness into strengths."  And of course we had to pull out Ether 12! She loved it. Then afterward I walked up and gave her a Book of Mormon and she said. Okay I will read it! And we were really excited for her! But then on Friday she didn't come to English course, but then as we were walking out of the building she came in and she said "I started reading your book! I like what it says, but I don't believe the story!" okay.....we will change that.

We also met a girl this week that is from the same small town in Brazil that Carol is from! We are going to baptize her and they are going to be best friends. :)

So this week has been nice. Lots of good things happened! And I am excited for another transfer here to see some more miracles.

Beautiful view of Rome

This week I have been thinking a lot about selfishness. When I got my transfer call, for some reason I was a little bit sad. Only because I feel like this last transfer has been too easy! I haven't been pushed! Easy city, lots of work, I get along with my companion. And I was expecting some sort of change that would make me push myself a little bit more. And so I was kinda sad that something like that didn't come. But then I had to take a step back and look at the situation. How selfish I was being. Why was I wanting a change and a challenge? So that I could grow....personally.

But the mission isn't about personal growth. It is about helping other people grow! And if my mind is stuck on "how am I going to grow" I won't see all of the ways of how I can help other people grow. So I opened up my eyes and I saw that I am in the perfect situation! I am in an amazing city where the church is strong. The leaders do their part and us missionaries don't have to pick up the slack. They do member missionary work. We have a huge potential list and lots of phone numbers! I am serving with a companion who is experienced in the mission and we get a long so well. And last but not least we are serving in the back yard of the Italy Rome temple!

I don't know about you, but to me that seems like perfection to the max!
So maybe I am not put in a situation this transfer that forces me to grow. But maybe God wants me to learn how to push myself when the going is easy!

scripture of the week: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27:

 24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

bellisima <3

Vi voglio bene!
Sorella Wiltbank

These fun drinking fountains are all over Rome, I thought I should take a picture to remember them! 

 It has been raining so much that the river has flooded over the sidewalk!